Jesus' View of Scripture

[Tree of Life]

Many say that they follow Christ. But do they follow Christ in his view of Scripture? Do they believe about Scripture what Jesus believed about Scripture?

Jesus believed that the Bible is God's word. In Matthew 4 Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy in order to combat Satan's assault. Each time he quotes he says: "it is written". Simply because it is written in Scripture, Jesus took it to be the truth from God.

Jesus believed that the Bible is verbally inspired. In Luke 20:34-38 Jesus makes a point about God based on a particular Hebrew verb form. In order to prove the truth of the resurrection he notes that God said (in Scripture) that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus makes an argument based on the present tense of the verb. Jesus believed that the Bible was inspired down to its very grammar.

Jesus believed that the Bible is historically accurate. Jesus spoke about the historical accuracy of... Creation: Matthew 19:4-5; Mark 10:6-8; Abel: Luke 11:51; Noah: Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27; Abraham: John 8:56-58; Jonah: Matthew 12:39-42; Luke 11:29 -32; Moses: Matthew 8:4; 19:8; Mark 1:44; 7:10; 10:5; 12:26; Luke 5:14; 20:37; John 5:46; 7:19; along with many other figures and events...

Jesus believed that the Bible is authoritative and infallible. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus said that not the smallest aspect of the OT Scriptures could pass away. All of it is still authoritative and infallible. Jesus constantly quoted the Scriptures in his preaching and teaching. He often said "Let the Scriptures be fulfilled" (Mark 14:49). In Luke 24:44 Jesus said that everything in the OT Scriptures must be fulfilled. When asked by a rich young ruler what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus referred him to the Scriptures (Matthew 19:16-19).

So Jesus had an incredibly high view of the Scriptures. So all of you followers of Jesus out there - do you follow Jesus in his view of the Scriptures? Or is this one place that you depart from him?

 

[Apologetic_Warrior]

TKO the winner is...JESUS!

 

[royal priest]

This OP also speaks to those followers who may regard the NT, but not the OT so much.

 

[redleghunter]

This OP also speaks to those followers who may regard the NT, but not the OT so much.

You mean like Marcion did?

Marcion of Sinope - Wikipedia

 

[apogee]

Jesus believed that the Bible is God's word. In Matthew 4 Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy in order to combat Satan's assault. Each time he quotes he says: "it is written". Simply because it is written in Scripture, Jesus took it to be the truth from God.

We don’t have access to Jesus’ beliefs, only his words as they are recorded. Clearly when Jesus said “it is written” he wasn’t referring to any of the books of the New Testament (....which weren’t), but we can infer from the above passage that Jesus thought that the book of Deuteronomy was a more reliable witness on the promises of God than Satan.... go figure.

Jesus believed that the Bible is verbally inspired. In Luke 20:34-38 Jesus makes a point about God based on a particular Hebrew verb form. In order to prove the truth of the resurrection he notes that God said (in Scripture) that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus makes an argument based on the present tense of the verb. Jesus believed that the Bible was inspired down to its very grammar.

We don’t have access to Jesus’ beliefs, only his words as they are recorded. What we can observe from the above passage is that he is invoking the Authority of Moses (by extrapolating from his words) to corroborate his teaching on resurrection, i.e. not the Authority of the book of Exodus, which clearly contains no such teaching.

Jesus believed that the Bible is historically accurate. Jesus spoke about the historical accuracy of... Creation: Matthew 19:4-5; Mark 10:6-8; Abel: Luke 11:51; Noah: Matthew 24:37-39; Luke 17:26-27; Abraham: John 8:56-58; Jonah: Matthew 12:39-42; Luke 11:29 -32; Moses: Matthew 8:4; 19:8; Mark 1:44; 7:10; 10:5; 12:26; Luke 5:14; 20:37; John 5:46; 7:19; along with many other figures and events...

We don’t have access to Jesus’ beliefs, only his words as they are recorded. What we can observe from the above passages, is that Jesus used scripture to frame his teachings, he regularly appealed to it, and then set about creating a fresh reading of it, in much the same way as many of the New Testament writers did.

I think it is reasonable to assume that Jesus had no cause to doubt the historical accuracy of the scriptures, he certainly didn't make any reference to its historicity in any of his recorded teachings, so presumably he either didn’t care, or it never even occurred to him that it would ever be an issue for the church.

Jesus believed that the Bible is authoritative and infallible. In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus said that not the smallest aspect of the OT Scriptures could pass away. All of it is still authoritative and infallible. Jesus constantly quoted the Scriptures in his preaching and teaching. He often said "Let the Scriptures be fulfilled" (Mark 14:49). In Luke 24:44 Jesus said that everything in the OT Scriptures must be fulfilled. When asked by a rich young ruler what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus referred him to the Scriptures (Matthew 19:16-19).

We don’t have access to Jesus’ beliefs, only his words as they are recorded. Actually what he said was “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets”

Unsurprisingly, the reason he made a point of saying this, was none other than, that was precisely what his audience thought he was doing, with his revolutionary new ideas.

So Jesus had an incredibly high view of the Scriptures. So all of you followers of Jesus out there - do you follow Jesus in his view of the Scriptures? Or is this one place that you depart from him?

My view of scripture, is not dependant on my comprehension of it. It does not require me to declare it infallible, omniscient or irrefutable. As if my declarations held any weight.

It is not enriched by such abstract overtures towards it, any more than it is impoverished by their absence.

 

[Tree of Life]

Time to bump this for reconsideration.